My older son just finished his second year of college Chinese and was showing his young siblings his textbook because they, too, are learning Mandarin, but at a slower pace. The little ones could understand come characters here and there, which was rewarding after several years … [Read more...]

Over the last couple of months, I've come across Mara Hvistendahl's 2011 book, Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men (Public Affairs), while reading other books about feminism in China. So when I was in New York in March, I … [Read more...]

Every year in early May my husband flies off to Omaha to listen to Warren Buffett speak to his shareholders. It's been a tradition in our family for more years than I can count. When he returned last weekend, he told me there were more Chinese attendees than ever and that Warren … [Read more...]

On April 26th, Joyce Bergvelt's debut novel set in old Taiwan (called Formosa back then) comes out. I recently had the wonderful opportunity to ask her questions about her time in Taiwan and her writing journey. Her book can be pre-ordered from Camphor Press here. Or on Amazon … [Read more...]

Twenty-three years ago today, I got married for the first time. And it was under conditional terms.There has been so much in the news now about women’s agency and why we don’t just leave when things go bad. But it’s not that simple, especially when we’re not talking about … [Read more...]